Version tested: Nintendo Switch
Today we talk about the remastered version of Sam & Max Save the World, a title originally made in 2006 by Telltale Games (Batman, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones) and brought back to the headlines thanks to the commitment of the guys from Skunkape, a team composed by some former developers of the US company which went bankrupt in 2018.
This interesting point and click video game will land on PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch starting today. It tells us about the hilarious adventure of the unlikely duo of private policemen born from the pencil of Steve Purcell in the 80s.
Who are Sam & Max?
The Californian animator and game-designer created this bizarre duo of anthropomorphic animals in his youth by parodying an idea he had from his brother and in 1987 he made known their adventures through hilarious comics. Sam, is a cute brown dog who loves wearing blue or gray suits and pairs them with a fedora.
Of the duo he is certainly the one with the most sense of justice and behavior similar to that of the policeman. The crazed element, on the other hand, is played by Max, a white rabbit (lagomorph to be precise) with decidedly disturbing features. In fact, the latter is a real clinical case, loves violence and has a particular preference for everything that is against the rules. However, it must be admitted that despite its psychic sphere, this hyperkinetic mammal (without clothes) is extremely useful on a mission. In short, this bizarre alchemy in the style of "The strange couple" is the glue of these two anomalous freelance cops.
History
Sam & Max Save the World is an episodic title, like many of the video games made by Telltale, but all the episodes follow a subtle but evident fil-rouge: hypnotization. Each episode is in fact equipped with an interesting and bizarre plot in its own right, from delusions of omnipotence to strange founding wizards of dark religious cults.
All the adventures of this peculiar duo always start from the ramshackle office in the most dangerous neighborhood of New York City, where they receive the most unlikely cases by phone. In these adventures, our two protagonists will not be alone, in fact, they will be accompanied by a series of bizarre characters, from the criminal rat who lives in their house to the Soda Poppers (a group of TV prodigies of the 70s), without forgetting Sybil Pandemik, a girl who is unable to keep a job and constantly changes specialization, from tattoos to psychotherapy.
The episodes, 6 in total, will take you to face mobsters, giant statues of Lincoln and unlikely space travel. In short, a series of unique adventures in the company of the craziest freelance cops ever.
gameplay
This peculiar title is a 3D graphic adventure, which will lead the player to impersonate the cute little dog Sam and explore the different game environments present, in order to solve a series of puzzles using a simple and intuitive point and click mechanics.
Through the cursor you can both discover the setting, exploring some specific areas, comment in a funny way on the objects visible on the screen or collect some to use later. In addition, our cute dog will also be able to initiate conversations with different NPCs, including Sybil and the "honest" shopkeeper Bosco. When this happens, a dialogue tree will help you manage the conversation, the topics will also allow you to get assistance with the game's puzzles (you will still have to work a little to solve them) or understand some points of the story. Other options instead involve that white rabbit psychopath who accompanies you making it all degenerate into a hilarious whirlwind of nonsense and Mandatory Health Treatment statements.
The items you acquire as you progress through the game and explore the worlds adequately have only one use and cannot be combined, but none of them have cryptic and overly complicated uses.
Finally, our cute police duo can also travel by car in a charming (and ramshackle) black and white DeSoto Adventurer from 1960. Once selected, you can choose whether to use it canonically for missions or have fun stopping as many drivers as possible with invented accusations.
A new graphic and musical look
The remastered version of Sam & Max Save the World, created by the guys from Skunkape, despite not upsetting the basic graphics sector, is able to offer a decidedly pleasant visual impact, thanks to the optimized models of the characters, new directorial options for some scenes. All of this is combined with the ability to explore a couple of new outdoor locations.
Even the music has undergone a remastering operation, in fact, the acclaimed soundtrack composed by Jared Emerson-Johnson, one of the first to compose live music for video games rather than synthesized material, is extremely impactful. In fact, the audio sector, mainly based on film noir and inspired by the work of the greats from Henry Mancini (The Pink Panther) to Nino Rota (The Godfather), has been significantly improved, also adding some wonderful unreleased jazz songs.
One small console, many possibilities
For this review we tried the Nintendo Switch version of the title. As for resolution and frame rate, we can't say anything. In fact, it respects 1080p 30fps in docked mode and 900p 30fps in portable mode.
The most interesting aspect, however, concerns the playability, in fact, if you want to have fun in the company of Sam & Max Save the World you can play it in any way, either by inserting the console in the dock, or in portable mode. This last mode is the strong point of the playful experience, it is precisely one of the few video games that adequately uses the Nintendo Switch touch screen.
So, if you have the Joy-Con downloaded or prefer a more direct approach to the adventure of this unusual duo, start pressing your fingers on the screen and solving case after case.
Final Comment
Sam & Max Save the World is a title with an ancient flavor, which will bring back to the memory of “old-school” players the time spent in front of the PC with the mouse in hand and a constant state of uncertainty. This remastering, done very well from a technical point of view, will give you some fun between twists, bizarre puzzles and bizarre characters to say the least.
All of this makes the work of the guys at Skunkape Games worth playing. On the other hand, titles of this genre lend their side to some defects, from the lack of real innovations useful to provide a breath of fresh air to the playful experience up to the presence of puzzles that are too often out of logic, which force the players to resort to the frustrating mechanics of trial & error.
